Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

It has been a good batting experience for me this year. I have 67 little browns which had pups. I have about 33 smaller than little browns which I cannot identify. I have had a few of these little bats over the years but there was a colony this year and
they had pups. I also had a few big browns which left and took their pups with them when the temps got in the 90s for weeks. My last exit count from two houses totaled about 200 bats. They came out pretty fast but I have counted them several times with a push button counter and 200 is pretty close I think. I checked the houses last night and two pups were left. Tonight both houses were empty at 9:30. It is still in the 90s here. All bats left out of the unventilated house and have not used it since it got so hot. I plan to let the house down, ventilate it well and paint it white. We have a bumper crop of insects this year I suppose from the very mild winter and early spring. The large 5 chamber seems to be the favorite among the bats in hot weather. They did crowd in the smaller 3 chamber when the nights were cool in early spring, but some moved when it got hot. I had one pup fall from the screened house, but it was unhurt and crawled up on the lattice of my deck.
It's mother got it at dark. No bats fell from my scratched baffle 5 chamber house. My three houses are all mounted on metal poles about 20 ft in length with swivel bases so they can be let down. They look bad but the bats like them I think.
We have not had any reports of WNS.

[Terry Lobdell]

Very good info there Frank, thanks!